Ringo Starr: Enneagram 7w6

Why Ringo Starr is a Type 7

• Hating practice because it was “boring.” Starr has said that he hates practicing because sitting alone with the drums is boring. “I did all my learning with other musicians, other bands.” He wanted to play and enjoy his time in the presence of others, not repeat exercises by himself. Music held his attention when it was live, social, and happening in the moment.

• A band guy who did not want to be alone. Meeting Elvis made him realize how lonely that level of fame could be for a solo performer. “I’m a band guy,” Starr has said. Starr had been an only child, then suddenly found himself with what he called three brothers. He was usually comfortable behind the other Beatles (which also points to his 6 Wing) and continued to tour with his All-Starr Band built around sharing the stage. He doesn’t always need to have the spotlight and was very different from Paul and John in this respect (both of whom are Type 3s).

• Cool, funny, and not too polished. Starr keeps interviews light with lots of jokes. He can be smooth, but not in a highly rehearsed way. His stories wander, he sometimes mumbles, and he is perfectly willing to say, “I don’t know, it’s hard to say.” The humor is about enjoying his experience and the person in front of him.

• Loving the attention because it was fun. When Starr was asked how he felt about all the fans being attracted to him, he answered, “I love it,” then quickly added, “It was great fun.” He enjoyed the attention, but he describes Beatlemania mainly as an exciting experience he got to have with his friends. He does not seem especially interested in proving that he deserved the spotlight or in keeping himself at the center of it.

• An accident that became his style. Starr is left-handed but learned on a right-handed drum kit. The awkward arrangement forced him to approach certain fills differently and became part of his recognizable sound. He did not set out to invent a distinctive technique. He used the kit that was available and went with what worked. Describing how Beatles drum parts developed, he said that if he found something and it sounded good, he kept it. “There was no planning or writing.”

• Funny without trying too hard. Starr was quieter than John and Paul, but an offhand remark from him could take over the room. His unusual phrases became known as “Ringoisms.” “A hard day’s night” became the title of a movie, album, and song. “Tomorrow never knows” became the title of one of John Lennon’s most experimental songs. The humor came from his slightly sideways manner of seeing things rather than from trying to perform a joke. He still has a habit of undercutting serious answers before they become too grand. After offering a possible meaning for his EP Rewind Forward, he added, “Of course, I’m making all this up.”

• The glue in a band of strong personalities. John and Paul were talented, ambitious, and famously competitive with each other. George, meanwhile, was developing into a formidable songwriter of his own and increasingly frustrated by having to fight for space alongside them. Starr was often the person who could get along with all three. Slightly older and already experienced as a professional musician, he was less invested in the rivalries around him. His warmth and lack of pretension helped the group continue feeling like a group.

• Trying one thing after another as experimentation and stimulation. Starr has acted in films, made films, narrated the television series Thomas the Tank Engine, published books of photography, and created visual art. During the pandemic, a TikTok video inspired him to try spin painting. He converted his home gym into an art room and a guest house into a recording studio. He liked the unpredictability of the painting. “You do something and then, ‘Wow, look what came out of it.’” A new medium becomes another opportunity to play, experiment, and see what happens.

• “Rewind Forward” out of a bad space. The title of Starr’s 2023 EP Rewind Forward also describes a way he thinks about moving through difficult states. Starr does not like to remain inside regret. “I don’t live in yesterday,” he told Larry King. “I live in today.” When he finds himself in a bad space, he says he can mentally rewind to a happier one and then “bring it forward.” The point is not to stay in the past, but to reconnect with something lighter and keep moving.

• The “peace and love” guy. “Peace and love” began as an unplanned answer when an interviewer asked Starr what he wanted for his birthday. He said he wanted everyone, everywhere, to say the words at noon. The idea became an annual international event and eventually his greeting, farewell, and public identity.

• Still looking for the next thing. At 85, Starr was still recording, touring, promoting one album, planning another project, and considering a new EP. His second recent country album with T Bone Burnett happened because the first collaboration had been enjoyable. They reached the next song and Starr’s response was simply, “Let’s do another!” After decades of being asked when he will stop, he continues finding new musicians, new formats, and new reasons to go back onstage. The future still seems to him like another experience waiting to happen.